ТЕМА: Thunderstorm - a source of o-zone

Hey! If you want to practice o-zone therapy I can advise you to walk after a thunderstorm. The point is that when the clouds drift one in another, they produce a lot of o-zone transforming O2 molecules in O3 ones. I don-t know if o-zone really helps to our health, but all of us we agree that after such rains the air is clearer and it smells in a special way.
We also should not forget about the danger that any storm hides for us. We know how many people die in it and how dangerous it could be.
At the same time I would like to ask you how does o-zone molecules affect our health and how does it make us feel better?
What are the other ways of getting o-zone? Can we find it high in mountains? We know that people who live in mountains have a longer and a healthier life/Is it the other kind of oxygen the cause of their long life?
I will be glad to receive your answers and to continue our discussion! Be aware of thunderstorm and at the same time use its benefits! Good luck!

This topic about ozone is interesting for me. On the one hand, after a thunderstorm it is easier and more pleasant to breath. On the other hand, ozone is an official air-pollutant, and its high concentration can irritate the respiratory system and harm lungs. In addition, ground level ozone participates in production of other harmful gases. Most importantly, ozone is a greenhouse gas and participates in global warming. Of course, the source of such ozone is not natural things such as thunderstorms but rather coal burning and automobiles. But anyway, I believe we should be very careful when using so chemically active and potentially harmful gas for the health purpose.

Nicker,
Ozone is a colorless odorless gas made of oxygen. Most oxygen in the air is O2 - two joined oxygen atoms. This is the oxygen that sustains life.

Ozone is O3 - three oxygen atoms joined together.Ozone is ready to react with whatever it meets. This makes it very useful for cleaning and disinfecting. But, when it comes in contact with living tissues like our lungs it can cause damage and illness.

Valentina, I don’t think that copypasted school chemistry is really needed here. I believe that nicker studied at school well and definitely knows what the difference between molecular oxygen and ozone is even though his 0-zone spelling is kind of weird for me. I have a solid background and natural sciences as well and such comments sound offensive for me. Anyway I appreciate your participation in this discussion because as I have said this topic is very interesting for me. One more thought. A far I remember many years ago there were home electrical ozone-production devices that helped to create a low level ozone concentration in the house. I am kind of curious what current scientific view on such practice is.

Thank you very much Valentina for your chemistry lesson. You were very kind trying to teach me and I really appreciate it, but the point is that I have known this difference from the 7th form, because I had a very good teacher at chemistry)
I would like also to thank St. Patrick for the information about the home electrical ozone-production devices. I never heard about them and it was really interesting to find out that something like this exists!
You have also said that this device helps to create a low level of o-zone concentration in our house, so I guess the general purpose of this machine is to create and maintain o-zone in a building. At the same time I want to mention that I agree with Valentina, who said the o-zone molecule (O3) is ready to interact with everything and as a consequence of long interacting it can damage our health.
So a question appears: Is o-zone therapy good for our health, and in this case what is the benefits, or it damades our lungs (as Valentina mentioned) and we should avoid it to keep us healthy?
I wait for your answers and for your personal opinions about this interesting subject.

I have done a brief internet research and as far I understand there is confusion regarding ozone and everything related to it. And I should admit that I was not absolutely correct. Indeed, ozone is a harmful gas and it is poisoned even in a small concentration. It would be a stupid idea to produce ozone at home. There is, however, confusion when people use a term ozone and ozonization meaning negative ions and ionization respectively. Ozonization and ionization (as well as ozone generators and air ionizers) are different thing. It is generally believed that the latter one (air ionization) is a good thing because it purifies air. There are many household devices for air ionization such as Chizhevsky chandelier which was invented by Russian scientist Alexander Chizhevsky. Many companies sell numerous devices and some people refer about these devices (and I did as well) as ozonators which is not correct. Even though it is clear for me now that there is no sense for ozone therapy (because of ozone’s obvious harm) there is still a question about ionization and how helpful is it for personal health. So I would propose to continue this topic including some discussion about household ionizers and so on.